More like a traditional watch

The 2015 Moto 360 is a refinement of the original’s design. The flat-tyre shape screen, the small metal bezel, stainless steel case and waterproofing are all the same.

New are standard watch strap brackets that stick out of the case and make it look much more like a traditional watch. The button has also been moved to the two o’clock mark, which makes it easier to press.

The new 360 is available in three sizes. Two men’s versions with either a 42mm or a 46mm diameter case, or a woman’s 42mm variant with a thinner strap.

I tested the 42mm man’s version, which was comfortable to wear and sits better on my wrist than its predecessor, feeling a little more secure. The leather strap is stiffer too, and looks more like an ordinary watch strap.

The watch is 11.4mm thick, but does not feel any more bulky than a traditional man’s sports watch.

The screen is the same as last year’s 360: a flat tyre shape rather than being wholly circular. The black bar at the bottom of the screen hides an ambient light sensor, but it can get in the way of notification cards which rise from the bottom.

The 360 runs Android Wear and connects to your Android or iPhone via Bluetooth, but can also connect to your smartphone via Wi-Fi if it’s on the same network and out of range of Bluetooth. I found it had good range on Bluetooth and rarely needed to switch to Wi-Fi when wandering around the house without my phone.

Fixing last year’s issues

The watch is 11.4mm thick, here shown on a slim female wrist. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

The biggest criticisms of the original 360 were poor performance and battery life. It would stutter with animations and would not last a day with the screen on. That was down to the old TI OMAP processor the original used, which was power hungry and performed poorly.

The second generation 360 fixes that using the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor found in every other Android Wear watch. With the screen on all the time, called “ambient display”, the new Moto 360 now lasted an average of 24.5 hours in my testing, with hundreds of notifications arriving throughout the day.

The Moto 360 ships with a small stand that wirelessly charges the watch, displaying a digital clock face. It charges fully in around two hours.

The ambient display is noticeably lower resolution and less sharp than when fully on, and once you notice it you can never unsee it. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

Animations are now fluid, too. When the screen is on it is relatively sharp and good looking. When it switches to the ambient display mode when not being actively used it is a whole other story.

Motorola has chosen to use a lower resolution ambient mode. It will save battery life but it is ugly, full of jagged lines that detract from the otherwise attractive watchfaces and display. Other Android Wear smartwatches do no suffer from this problem.

Moto Body

The heart rate sensor can be manually activated or left to periodically take your pulse throughout the day. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

In addition to the standard Android Wear apps such as Google Fit, Maps and Weather, Motorola includes Moto Body, it’s fitness tracking app.

It tracks your heart rate periodically through the day, and steps and calories burned. Google Fit also does similarly, but Moto Body is a better app and can sync with Fit. It will calculate your averages over 14 days and is worth using.

A new app on the smartphone allows users to view the data away from the watch for easier analysis.